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The LittleDoctor data logger

The LittleDoctor data logger

LittleDoctor Data logger developed by homeschooler in Ireland.

Michael Bailey is a homeschooler who has developed and sells an affordable datalogger, more information about his creation LittleDoctor – data logger is available from his website, understandanding and useing a datalogger is a requirement of upper level science.

What is a data logger?

A data logger is a hardware device that works with a computer to measure and record various types of data. It connects via a cable to a USB port and can be wired to various sensors. Once the data is recorded, it can be graphed and analysed in various ways.

Not all data loggers measure the same things; so, before purchasing one, be sure to check its features to make sure that it can handle the kind of measurements you are looking for. Some common measurements that you can perform with logging devices such as the LittleDoctor are AC and DC voltage levels, the width and frequency of digital pulses, temperature levels, light levels, and sound amplitude and frequency.

It is easy to spend thousands of euro on a data logger, and there are very few indeed which you will find for less than several hundred euro. We believe that the LittleDoctor is a revolutionary product for students because it delivers most of the functionality of vastly more expensive models but still maintains acceptable accuracy and sampling rates.

This explanation is on a very basic level. There is much more that a data logger can do! To see some examples, check out the Science Experiments on our website,

Quoting from Electronics World:

“The proliferation of personal computers has greatly increased the feasibility of computerised data logging. This has been beneficial to many people, particularly those involved in science education. In the UK, recent changes in secondary-level syllabuses have mandated the use of automatic data logging in some experiments. The market has moved to accommodate these new demands, offering a broad array of equipment which varies widely in accuracy, speed, and price. This article describes an economical unit called the “LittleDoctor” shown in Figure 1 which you can make or adapt for yourself.

A data-logger is essentially an analogue to digital converter (ADC) with a computer interface. With a little ingenuity, there really is no limit to the number of experiments that can be performed with even a simple unit. To pick two random examples, with an external thermistor, a data logger can plot temperature vs. time on a graph as water melts and later boils; also, using a simple light gate, you can measure the speed of a dynamics trolley before and after a collision. There are many other experiments described on the Internet. “

“This is a portion of an article was first published in Electronics World magazine. To subscribe to Electronics World, please email Matthew.Dawe@nexusmedia.com”. For a full copy of the article, please contact Michael Bailey at microlite@iol.ie

For more information, or to order LittleDoctor datalogger, contact littledoctor@iol.ie or browse the website at http://www.iol.ie/~microlit/Website3/index.html